For every two new families, only one home was built.
In the 1990s the City's population grew by 6 percent to more than 3.5 million people. While the City was growing by nearly 200,000 additional people – over 70,000 new households1, only 38,000 additional units were built – roughly one home for every two new families.

If not enough homes were built, then where are people living?
Many new residents were newborn babies living with their families.
Some new households moved into vacant apartments and the vacancy rate decreased by 25 percent. Others moved in with family or friends and the number of overcrowded households increased by 25 percent.

Will this growth trend continue into the future?
In the four years between January 2000 and January 2004, according to the California Department of Finance, Los Angeles kept growing. Population growth in the City for these four years is estimated at 9 percent - one and one half again as large as that in the previous decade. Again, housing production is not expected to keep up leading to another increase in household size. Nevertheless the pace of housing production, which averaged only 3,770 units per year in the 1990's, had risen to 4,479 units per year by the end of 2003.

City of L.A. Population and Housing Growth, 1990-2000

Population and
Housing Units

1990

2000

Change

% Change

Population

3,485,398

3,584,620

+ 199,220

6%

Housing Units

1,299,963

1,337,688

+ 37,705

2.9%

Occupied Units

1,217,405

1,275,412

+ 58,007

4.7%

Household Size

2.80

2.83

+ .03

1%

Overcrowded Units

81,765

95,605

+ 13,837

16.9%

Severely Overcrowded

178,757

230,356

+ 51,599

28.8%

Vacant Units

82,558

62,256

- 20,302

-24.5%

Vacancy Rate

6.3%

4.6%

-2.3%

-36%

Source: 2000 U.S. Census

Estimated Population and Housing Growth
City of Los Angeles,
2000-2003

Population and
Housing Units

2000

2003

Increase

% Change

Population

3,584,620

3,912,244

327,624

9.1%

Housing Units

1,337,688

1,356,107

18,419

1.4%

Occupied Units

1,275,412

1,293,329

17,917

1.4%

Household Size

2.83

2.96

0.13

4.6%

Vacant Units

62,256

62,778

522

-

Vacancy Rate

4.6%

4.63%

.03

-

2000 U.S. Census, 2004 California State Department of Finance Estimates